On February 6, during Friday prayers in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, a suicide attack took place in Shia Jama Masjid and Imam Bargah Khadijatul Kubra in which more than 30 people died while 170 people are said to be injured. This attack during Namaz proves how deeply the crisis of communal violence has penetrated in Pakistan.
However, this is not the first time that the Shia community has been targeted in Pakistan. Pakistan This trend had started right after its formation. In 1955, at least 25 small and big anti-Shia incidents took place in Punjab itself, i.e. just 8 years after the formation of Pakistan. In which hundreds of Shia Muslims were killed.
The attack during a Tazia procession in June 1963 in Theri area of Khairpur district of Sindh province is considered to be the first major incident of violence against Shias. The attackers set fire to the Imambara and attacked people with sharp weapons. About 118 people died and many were seriously injured in this incident. The incident also attracted international attention and concern was expressed over increasing communal violence in Pakistan.
General Zia ul Haq's policies in the 1980s further deepened communal tensions against Shia Muslims. There was an alarming increase in anti-Shia violence during his rule (1977–1988). About 2 thousand Shia Muslims were killed. In 1988, the massacre of Gilgit Baltistan took place in which about 800 people lost their lives. Many analysts even called it state sponsored violence.
1995-1998 era Pakistan This was the most dangerous and violent period of sectarian violence against Shia Muslims. Especially in Karachi and Punjab, communal organizations launched a campaign of target killing. Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and its armed wing Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) were accused of killing Shia doctors, lawyers and other professionals. In Karachi alone, 103 Shia Muslims were murdered in 1994-1995. In 1998, 25 Shia Muslims, including children, were killed in firing during the Mominpura Majlis (religious gathering) in Lahore. By the end of the 1990s, 776 deaths were recorded during violence in Punjab, mostly from the Shia community.
After the year 2000, the nature of violence became more deadly. Suicide attacks and firing in mosques and Imam Bargahs gained momentum. On 4 July 2003, three gunmen (one a suicide bomber) entered the Hazara Mosque in Quetta during Friday prayers. 53 Shias were killed, 57 were injured. On March 2, 2004, 44 Shias were killed and more than 150 injured in a firing and bomb attack on an Ashura procession in Quetta. On October 1, 2004, more than 30 Shias were killed in a suicide attack during Friday prayers at a Shia mosque in Sialkot. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi took responsibility for all these attacks.
On 27 May 2005, 25 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a suicide attack during a Majlis (religious gathering) at Bari Imam Dargah. On 28 December 2009, 43 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a suicide attack during the Ashura procession in Karachi. On 1 September 2010, 33 Shias were killed and 170 injured in three serial suicide attacks during a procession on the martyrdom of Hazrat Ali in Lahore.
On 21 November 2012, a suicide attack took place during a Muharram procession in Rawalpindi. 23 people were killed, 62 were injured. On 25 November 2012, 5 Shias were killed and 90 injured in a bomb blast during the Dera Ismail Khan Ashura procession. On January 30, 2015, a suicide bomber blew himself up during Friday prayers at Shikarpur Shia Mosque. 61 people were killed, 50 were injured. On June 23, 2017, two bomb blasts took place near the mosque in Parachinar market, killing 80-100 Shias and injuring more than 300.
The suspicious role of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan came to light in all these blasts. On March 4, 2022, 63 people were killed while 196 people were injured in a suicide attack during Friday prayers at Peshawar Kucha Risaldar Shia Mosque. And now the recent suicide attack in Islamabad is also a link to this communal violence.
(Report: Rahbar Hasnain)
